Cry-Baby

Chapter 24

The tears finally subsided and I felt super exhausted with a pounding migraine. It was 3:30 in the morning, and we were leaving at 5:00. I turned on my light squinting at the brightness. Looking in my mirror I saw the dark bags under my bloodshot eyes, my frizzy and tangled hair, and my face in general looked like I got hit with a train carrying elephants that doubled as a plane.

I decided to take a shower, and the entire time I was nothing more than a cold, emotionless zombie. I felt empty, and the tiredness from the tears were weighing me down. I managed somehow to finish packing and get dressed. I wore some sweats and a tanktop with a hoodie over top. my hair was pulled into a simple ponytail. I wore some fuzzy socks with my Adidas slippers. There wasn't any reason to get decked out for the plane, I would just have to take things off through security anyways, and I wanted to be comfy.

I made my way downstairs and my mom was making breakfast. "What happened to you?" She gasped, looking mortified. Oh thanks. I dropped my suitcase and carry-on backpack and took a seat at the table.

"Nothing." I mumbled and then sighed. I needed to get a grip. I didn't want to bring my mom's mood down despite how much I now, more than ever, didn't want to go on this trip, "I just have the biggest migraine." I rubbed at my temples.

"I'll get you a pill. Why did that boy storm out of the house? If it wasn't for your sniffling, I would have thought he killed you!" My mom brought over the plates and a pill. My dad finally came down, looking sleepy.

"We're not friends anymore." That was true, although I hadn't exactly told my mom we were ever even more than friends.

"Oh." Part of me knew she assumed we were dating anyways. Even if he was truly a friend, that wouldn't be enough for her. So it wasn't surprising. At least she was right this time. But she didn't push it further, hopefully from my dad's presence, but I wasn't complaining whatever the reason may be.


We finished eating, and we picked up Brenda and Clyde. He wasn't looking at me, but I shot him evil glares through the window anyways. He looked tired, but I knew nobody looked as bad as me. Brenda smiled at me, saw my face, and my mom just put her hand on Brenda's arm, and she turned around. I turned back to look out the window. That made me feel slightly more like an ugly and grumpy toad.

My dad was driving, Clyde sat shotgun beside him, and all three of us females sat in the back. My mom didn't want Brenda alone, and figured all girls should sit in the back. Whatever.

We got there, said goodbye to my dad, and filed in. We didn't really have to wait since my parents, having to fly to their job, were very punctual when it came to boarding time. So we quickly made it in and, as I thought, I was sitting beside Clyde, while our moms were in the row in front of us.

He put on headphones for the movie they would play, and I turned. I had the seat next to the window, so like in the car, I steadied my focus to outside of it. Luckily sleep had found me and I stayed out till we got there. I was feeling drowsy when my mom woke me up, or well us since Clyde was stretching his arms and yawning. However, the nap did make me feel better, and I wasn't too down on myself as before.

When we left the airport, the sunshine, palm trees, and tropical plants of all kinds greeted me happily. I was feeling warm in my sweatpants, but the beach was right next door bringing a breeze with it. The hotel was an amazing size, and the locals looked so tanned and alive. It was a refreshing site. We checked into our hotel room and when we made it inside I had to stiffle a gasp. The place was huge, almost like a full apartment. The living room was spacious, the kitchen had marble countertops, and the bathroom had both a shower and a bathtub. My room was perfectly made, and I couldn't feel more at home. Maybe even better than home. I knew my dad must be chipping in a big lot for this.

I would think he'd care since he's not here, but my mom mentioned something about hanging out with his guys. And I realized it just didn't take too much to make many men excited. He was going to a baseball game, and probably to his friend Timothy's man cave. He would be having the time of his life, since he decided he'd take these three days off. However, it wasn't really a vacation and he'd be doing some work at home.

I threw my suitcase on the bouncy peach colored bed, and took out the outfit I planned for today. My mom really wanted to go to the beach and so I decided I would go there as well. Maybe just not in the water. I did go in a lot on my school trip. I liked the water, just not sea water all too much. Too much sand, salt, and ocean debris.

We all made our way over, the moms holding some conversation about coffee, while Clyde walked slightly behind us. I stayed in my own little world.

I placed down my blanket and sat. I had my bikini on under my clothes, but I decided to keep my clothes on. The sand was beautifully white, and the ocean was the clearest blue I ever saw. There weren't too many people just hanging about, but loads of surfers, boaters, and jet skis.

"You coming?" Brenda asked me after they put on some sunblock.

"No thanks." She frowned at this but her and my mom went to the water anyways. Clyde placed his towel next to my small blanket and took off his shirt. I was upset with him for multiple reasons, but it still took every fiber of my body to look away while he took his shirt off. Not that his body in particular had a special effect on me, if anyone with a body was taking their shirt off in front of me, or well beside me, I would want to stare full on.

Without a word he left and I watched him leave, not sure where he was going. He wasn't heading to the water, and that's when I noticed the jet ski place. I guess he was going to get some lessons.

I took out my mom's camera and decided to play photographer. I took a few shots of the moms. They saw me after a while and started posing all crazy. I couldn't help but smile. They were such an embarassment to themselves. 

I looked further out into the water and it seems Clyde was actually windsurfing. I looked through the camera to get a close up, and he apparently didn't need lessons. He was doing fine. I started taking pictures of him surfing along. And then out of nowhere he was falling. I snapped a photo at that exact time before dropping it and falling backwards in laughter. I looked over at the moms who were also laughing hysterically.

Clyde's head popped out of the water and he looked at us to see if we caught that. We did. His face was red which only made it funnier. I never seen him full on blush. He stuck his middle fingers at us, before going back onto the board. The moms were having too good a laugh to care about that action, and for me it was only funnier. His red cheeks were absolutely adorable. I didn't think I could see something so cute on him. 

I looked through the photos to see the one of him falling off. I laughed again before setting the camera down. I guess I could find fun here.



I found myself waking up to a lack of sunlight. It was night time and I was still on the beach, I shrieked while looking at my skin. Oh good. I breathed. Someone put an umbrella over me. I looked around while my heartbeat slowed down.

My phone made a buzzing noise and I grabbed it out of my bag. I had a missed call from my mom, I checked the voicemail: "Girl are you still sleeping? You are so lucky I put that umbrella up, you'd probably be burnt. Well it would serve you right, you never get burned and I always get burned." My mom was slurring badly. "You don't know the pains of being white!" I heard Brenda laughing in the background, and my mom joined her. "If you're wondering, we are at the hotel. We had a drink or two." I rolled me eyes. "Clyde is somewhere, I don't know. We lost him. Well have fun!"

Great mom. She left me alone on the beach, not knowing where Clyde was, where I could possibly get kidnapped. It was evident that she loved me. There were even less people on the beach, but a lot of surfers in the water with the rising tides that comes with the moon.

I looked around and saw Clyde heading my way. It really helped to calm my nerves. I wasn't alone. I placed my head back on the blanket, he came onto my blanket and sat down. "You sleep a lot." He said and handed me a bottle of water. I hadn't realized how thristy I was. And after my night previously, I wasn't surprised I was sleeping.

"I thought I was abandoned here." I opened the bottle and took a long drink, almost finishing it.

"Nah, they asked me to watch you when they left and you were out cold." Of course my mom would forget that in her drunken voicemail. He layed down, placing his head on my chest. "So I just did things here on the beach."

The shock of his action subsided quickly and I reacted, "Get off of me." I pushed his head, but he was using all of his deadweight. This boy has some issues.

"Will your boyfriend get mad?" That completely stopped me. It was like a slap to the face really.

"We're not together anymore." My voice slightly cracked as it trembled, and I was only happy that it was dark. I felt my eyes water but I willed the tears to stay in my eyes. Julian had become a great friend, and I wasn't going to see him ever. He would go off to college or wherever, and I'd probably only see him if met by faith. And I strongly didn't like that Clyde had asked me that.

He kept his head of hair on my chest, but I didn't want to face him, so I left him there. His head was really heavy and it made it hard for me to breathe, and it was overall uncomfortable. However, it wasn't killing me. The umbrella wasn't directly over us so I could see the stars, He was facing the stars as well, his hands rested on his bare chest.

Yes I didn't forget to take note of that. My hands were still in his hair and I unconciously started to massage my fingers through the middle of his hair, where it was longest. The sides were slightly more grown out, but the thicket of his full dark waves was directly on top.

"Alex, I'm sorry, really." He breathed. This caught me off guard, and I just blinked. "I know you're really starting to dislike me and it's my fault, I know." He paused, and my fingers froze in his hair. "I really want us to hang out on this trip." He started to fiddle his thumbs.

I honestly didn't know what to say. I was in complete shock mode, and I wasn't even sure if I heard correctly.

"It's okay if you don't want to though. I'll understand." He said after my moment of silence, rejection clear in his voice. Did I really want to hang out with him? Every other time ended the same way. With me crying after us having some fight. I kept walking into the fire, only to get burned. But, even then, when it was good it was great. Plus, I was either stuck with him on this trip or stuck alone.

"No, um I would also like to hang out with you." I managed to say, and I grazed my hand over his forehead to comb his hair backwards. It sort of became something to mess with to ignore the nerves. Nerves which were running wild as I had decided my fate, and possibly walked into the flames of a volcano.

"You are such a forgiving person. I swear if anyone else were you, hell if I was you, I would be done with me." He chuckled.

Although I couldn't see his face, I poked him in his dimple, knowing exactly where it was, "Would you like me to not forgive you?" I tried to sound threatening but I was also smiling.

"Not at all. You wouldn't be you if you were any other way." He turned sideways, his head falling in the middle of my chest and he wrapped his arm around my stomach. I tried to ignore the tingles his contact sent through me, while adjusting my breathing since he was resting, more or less, on my lungs. But my breathing was primarily made harder due to the butterflies that started to swarm inside of me. I couldn't help take complete note of how intimate this position was.

Him and his half naked self snuggling into my chest, mind you where my boobs are, with an arm swung across my body, holding me close. Even with the warm breeze of this Hawaiian night, I felt my entire body heat up abnormally.

He sighed deeply stopping my bad train of thought, "That feels so good, you're going to make me fall asleep." I chuckled lightly. I didn't care, I continued ravaging my fingers through his soft hair. "Is your breakup my fault?" He blurted after a moment of silence.

"No." I said simply. I didn't believe it was his fault, I didn't leave Julian because he said he had anger issues. But, Julian had mentioned him during it, and I couldn't help feel that he was a part of it. And I can't lie, I was really pissed at him after the breakup.

He didn't say anything more and I didn't attempt to explain further. We fell into a comfortable silence as the night grew darker.

"We should head back." Clyde got up a while later, and I felt a rush a air rush through my lungs. However my chest had gotten cold where his head had pressed just moments ago. I got up too and started folding my blanket.

"What should we do about this?" I asked pointing at the umbrella.

"Just leave it there. Someone will get it." He shrugged it off. He took the blanket from me as I grabbed my bag.

"So what are we going to do tomorrow?" I spoke after we started heading to the hotel.

"Hmm." He thought a while. "How about we get you some surfing lessons?" He arched an eyebrow at me and I smiled. I would not mind learning how to surf.

And then I remembered him wind surfing and I broke out into laughter. He looked at me with a confused expression, but I couldn't stop.

"What?" He asked, looking at me like I was crazy. I can't say me laughing out of nowhere was a sane site.

"I just remembered how you fell of your board earlier today." I said through laughs.

"Oh, is that funny to you?" He came closer to me, giving me a sideways look. I moved back a bit, my laughter starting to die down. "Because I don't find that funny. But you know what I would find funny?" My laughter stopped as he got even closer, "Filling your underwear with sand."

"No!" I screamed smiling as I ran away from him. He chased me and I couldn't stop laughing. I could hardly see where I was going and it just so happened my foot slammed into a rock and I fell face forward into the sand. In that same moment Clyde started laughing like a hyena. "@sshole!" I tried to wipe the sand from my face but it just scraped against my skin. There was sand all over my legs and hands as I got up.

"Karma's a b!tch." He said wiping some tears. I tried dusting off my legs to no avail. "Alright, hop on my back." He turned around.

I thought about being stubborn and not accepting his ride, but I wasn't so happy with all the sand, so it was the least he could do. I hopped on and wrapped my arms around his neck. His bare chest was very warm and I snuggled my chin into the nape of his neck.

Unlike the previous night, I was actually able to sleep with a smile plastered on my face.